Facing the house, there's on the right side (in order) living room, dining room, kitchen, back porch. On the left side is bedroom, bathroom, bedroom, bedroom. No hallways, small-small closets, 1,100 sq-ft.

Nice porch! You mentioned layering paint on the floor. I have another Civil War Era home in the north, the staircase came already distressed when I tried to refinish them and found 5 layers of different colors under dark brown. I left them that way for now and my family thought I was crazy. I doubt I can get all the paint off the steps to apply Minwax. The stair casing went well but the steps are dinged up and the paint sits lower.

The countertop is poured-in-place concrete with the upper layer stained with red dye. There's angle iron running down the length of the top and a base of thick plywood. The open shelves are simply plywood cut into quarter circles and painted white. Lo-fi!

What Houzz contributors are saying:

"When we bought the house, the kitchen still had the sloping, linoleum-covered porch floor, the 7-foot porch ceiling, and the awful appliances, cabinets, and countertops," says Mace. "Everything was sloped, including the countertop. If we spilled something, we had to run to the other side of the room to catch it before it hit the wall or dripped off the counter!"

7. Quirky Vintage KitchenDesigner/homeowner: Robert MaceLocation: Austin, TexasThis unique kitchen is the result of a DIY remodel of a 130-year-old Louisiana shotgun-shack-style home. When Robert Mace bought the house, the kitchen was located on an open back porch with a lean-to roof that had been closed in with a few awkward additions, making a full remodel a necessity.

the sense of the eating area wall-note the face on the sink...change the countertop to planks/2 x 4, get rid of the old posts-use just rough footings-add shelves. 2 shelves under the counter. figure out how high we can go on the walls.